Scope
Description
Commodities - Sourcing & Procurement, Inventory Management, Logistics & Distribution (UK and International) and Storage & Stock Management of circa 400K commodities. The winning bidder will be required to source circa 180K of those 400K items. The remaining 220K items will be sourced by MOD teams and the winning bidder will be required to warehouse/stock manage and distribute those items.
Some items will require additional services e.g. repair, maintenance, service and calibration.
Example of scope of commodities that the winning bidder will be responsible for, using the classification of the Nato Supply Group, are:
• Hardware and Abrasives - 92500
• Electrical and Electronic Equipment Components - 51500
• Clothing, Individual Equipment, Insignia, and Jewellery - 28500
• Vehicular Equipment Components - 21500
• Medical, Dental, and Veterinary Equipment & Supplies - 18000
• Pipe, Tubing, Hose, and Fittings - 18000
• Electric Wire, and Power and Distribution Equipment - 14000
• Instruments and Laboratory Equipment - 12000
• Hand Tools - 12000
• Other - 12000
• Valves - 10500
• Maintenance and Repair Shop Equipment - 6500
• Lighting Fixtures and Lamps - 6500
• Communication, Detection & Coherent Radiation Equipment - 6000
• Bearings - 5500
• Miscellaneous - 5000
• Household and Commercial Furnishings and Appliances - 5000
• Aerospace Craft Components and Accessories - 4500
• Mechanical Power Transmission Equipment - 4500
• Engine Accessories - 4000
• Fire Control Equipment - 3500
• Textiles, Leather, Furs, Apparel and Shoe Findings, Tents & Flags - 3000
• Aerospace Craft and Structural Components - 3000
• Ship and Marine Equipment - 2500
• Pumps and Compressors - 2500
• Firefighting, Rescue & Safety Equipment; and Environmental Protection Equipment & Materials - 2500
• Recreational and Athletic Equipment - 2500
• Brushes, Paints, Sealers, and Adhesives - 2500
• Containers, Packaging, and Packing Supplies - 2000
• Information Technology Equipment (Including Firmware), Software, Supplies & Support Equipment - 2000
• Rope, Cable, Chain, and Fittings - 2000
• Refrigeration, Air Conditioning & Air Circulating Equipment - 2000
• Engines, Turbines, and Components - 1500
• Materials Handling Equipment - 1500
• Food Preparation and Serving Equipment -1500
• Metal Bars, Sheets, and Shapes - 1500
• Metalworking Machinery - 1500
• Operational Ration Packs - 1500
• Furniture - 1500
• Non-metallic Fabricated Materials - 1500
• Chemicals and Chemical Products - 1000
• Aerospace Craft Launching, Landing, Ground Handling & Servicing Equipment -1000
• Training Aids and Devices - 1000
• Measuring Tools - 1000
• Plumbing, Heating, and Waste Disposal Equipment - 1000
• Cleaning Equipment and Supplies - 1000
• Books, Maps, and Other Publications -1000
• Office Supplies and Devices - 1000
• Prefabricated Structures and Scaffolding - 500
• Fuels, Lubricants, Oils, and Waxes - 500
• Construction and Building Materials - 500
• Alarm, Signal and Security Detection Systems - 500
• Subsistence - 500
• Lumber, Millwork, Plywood, and Veneer - 500
• Fiber Optics Materials, Components, Assemblies & Accessories - 500
• Special Industry Machinery - 500
• Tyres and Tubes - 500
• Agricultural Machinery and Equipment - 500
• Photographic Equipment - 500
• Water Purification and Sewage Treatment Equipment - 500
• Service and Trade Equipment - 500
• Construction, Mining, Excavating & Highway Maintenance Equipment - 500
• Musical Instruments, Phonographs & Home-Type Radios - 500
• Woodworking Machinery and Equipment - 500
• Ground Effect Vehicles, Motor Vehicles, Trailers & Cycles - 500
• Toiletries - 500
• Ships, Small Craft, Pontoons, and Floating Docks - 100
• Office Machines, Text Processing Systems & Visible Record Equipment - 100
• Agricultural Supplies - 100
• Ores, Minerals, and Their Primary Products - 100
• Tractors - 100
• Railway Equipment - 100
• Non-metallic Crude Materials -100
The Sourcing, Procurement and Inventory Management & Planning and Storage & Distribution of commodities under a one (1) Lot Model.
The Authority's objective is to enhance resilience, agility, and scalability to better support the latest Defence Planning Assumptions in the Defence Support and Supply Chain strategies.
This will include the need for suppliers to use a combination of MOD-owned and Supplier-Provided warehousing estate.
The scope of activity required by the Authority necessitate the use of supplier IS/IT that interface with MOD owned/operated IS/IT to meet the requirement.
By its nature, MOD expects to see SME involvement in the sourcing of the commodities but managed holistically by the winning Bidders.
Value of goods, services or works is £6-9Bn across the life of the contract.
Classification is OFFICIAL - SENSITIVE
The Cyber Risk Profile is High - RAR-250417A05
The pricing model will be based on performance and will include incentivisation
The Common Procurement Vocabulary (CPV) Code is 75131000
Potential Future scope during the duration of the contract may include:
Electro-Medical Equipment Support
Global Hubs
Storage of Military Aircraft and Equipment
Storage of Military Vehicles
Total value (estimated)
- £8,000,000,000 excluding VAT
- £9,600,000,000 including VAT
Above the relevant threshold
Contract dates (estimated)
- 5 June 2028 to 4 June 2038
- Possible extension to 5 June 2040
- 12 years, 1 day
Main procurement category
Services
Additional procurement category
Goods
CPV classifications
- 79991000 - Stock-control services
- 63120000 - Storage and warehousing services
- 63100000 - Cargo handling and storage services
- 63111000 - Container handling services
- 63520000 - Transport agency services
- 60160000 - Mail transport by road
- 60200000 - Railway transport services
- 60400000 - Air transport services
- 60640000 - Shipping operations
- 44100000 - Construction materials and associated items
- 44423300 - Goods-handling equipment
- 42961400 - Dispatch system
- 30192000 - Office supplies
- 33910000 - Pathology dissection instruments and supplies
- 15800000 - Miscellaneous food products
- 18000000 - Clothing, footwear, luggage articles and accessories
- 33140000 - Medical consumables
- 24000000 - Chemical products
Contract locations
- UK - United Kingdom
Engagement
Engagement deadline
31 October 2024
The engagement was carried out before this notice was published.
Engagement process description
The preliminary market engagement closed on 30 October 2024. The Authority currently has no plans to carry out any further PME in relation to FDSS, although the Authority reserves the right to conduct further Industry Engagement through the formal RFI process, if required. Any further engagement will be focused on specific topics/elements and will be open to all potential suppliers. The Authority will publish another PME notice if further PME is to be carried out.
The following PME has been completed:
• August 2023 -The Prior Information Notice (PIN) was published, inviting all potential suppliers to register their interest in the FDSS Programme.
• August 2023 - EOI & 1st RFI Issued. 56 EOI and 39 RFI responses were received and from these we extracted cross-sectional views of the market to highlight concentration of interest across activity groups. We also calculated the range of supplier interest by company type and size.
• September 2023 - Initial market engagement session. 106 attendees joined the initial virtual market engagement session, where the FDSS Team provided further detail on the proposed scope and timelines.
• November 2023 - 2nd RFI was issued to allow suppliers to provide an updated view of their capabilities, areas of investment, and any technologies which FDSS could potentially exploit.
• January 2024 - Supplier 1-2-1 Day. The supplier 1-2-1 day was attended by 70 companies, where 120 industry attendees were involved. Key objectives were achieved including updating industry on the Programme scope and timelines, developing our understanding of how different companies may wish to be involved and facilitating supplier networking.
• May 2024 - Lotting and Delivery Model RFI was issued to understand how the market is naturally segmented across the FDSS Requirements to support its research into optimal lotting approaches. This was achieved by gathering data to identify common areas of overlap in market capability. This RFI is one element of this research.
• August 2024 - Solution Design (Technical) RFI issued. The purpose of this RFI was to seek input from industry about how the procurement process can be made more accessible and efficient, and to enable industry to highlight any innovative products or solutions which may be relevant to the FDSS Programme. The RFI responses yielded multiple insights. Recommendations and case studies spanning all six 'themes' of innovation (including resilience, IS/IT, supply chain illumination, sustainability, contractual flexibility and inventory management) demonstrate the existence of a potential supplier group possessing innovative capabilities with potential for adaptation to FDSS.
• August 2024 - 1-2-1 sessions were held as part of FDSS ongoing industry engagement. During August 2024, 9 different companies Were engaged over the course of dedicated one-hour sessions. These companies were selected due to their expertise in relevant areas.
• October 2024 -2nd Industry Day was held. Facilitation of networking to encourage collaboration amongst interested industry parties. A presentation was delivered that provided industry with confidence in the FDSS Programme, and the information required to continue developing their approach to becoming potential bidders. The day also provided Industry with the opportunity to ask questions around key areas of interest.
• October 2024 - Digital (Technical) RFI 2 issued. The Authority were seeking input from industry as the FDSS solution design developed. This included insight into 1) how suppliers can meet the FDSS digital needs, and 2) how suppliers envision service transition from the incumbent to potential new delivery partners.
Submission
Publication date of tender notice (estimated)
15 October 2025
Procedure
Special regime
Defence and security
Contracting authority
Defence Equipment and Support
- Public Procurement Organisation Number: PVRL-5831-GLMM
MOD Abbey Wood
Bristol
BS34 8JH
United Kingdom
Contact name: Garry Coe
Email: ukstratcom-defsp-fdss-mu@mod.gov.uk
Website: https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/defence-equipment-and-support
Region: UKK12 - Bath and North East Somerset, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire
Organisation type: Public authority - central government